There are various reasons why your guitar playing may not be improving, or at least improving at the rate that you want. We are able to have a look at the common reasons that have held other people back from improving on the guitar. By finding out what these reasons are, you can then avoid them and actively work to make sure this doesn’t happen to you now and in the future.

Are you being persistent enough? I see this as the biggest reason that holds people back from improving their guitar playing and it’s because they are not persistent enough. When there is a problem with their playing, they don’t go out to find the solution, or they find the wrong solution and get stuck. And when they struggle to get out of it for a while they give up. You must always carry on, be persistent at solving the problems and frustrations that you have on the guitar. You may need to find help to do this, but never just give up on whatever it is that is holding you back because it will surely hold you back from other areas of your playing or make you give up altogether. So just keep pursuing it and keep playing the guitar even when it gets difficult.

Are you practising things that you are comfortable with? It’s easy to get comfortable playing what you already know and what makes you feel good and feel awesome. Because it’s easy for you. Whether it’s strumming through a song or mindless improvising with scales. But without challenges, that is one of the reasons we see people’s playing as stale. They just end up “practising” the same things over and over again. And playing the easy stuff isn’t going to get you any great improvements in your playing. You need to make your brain and your fingers and hands work.

Are you just learning how to play guitar songs? This is a common one we see with a lot of people who tried to teach themselves guitar. They find a tab on the internet, and they play through that song. Or a YouTube video, and play through another song. Now, you do learn some things by learning songs, and it is a great feeling when you can play a song that you love. However, the most important things about the songs is how it is put together, the techniques used in them. What skills do you need so you can pick up any song and play it? Rather than just being a copy cat. Just learning songs will not make amazing improvements to your playing and will often leave people feeling like they are not a real musician or guitarist.

Are you getting too content with your progress? When people first start playing the guitar, they tend to really push themselves and throw themselves into it. And then they get to a couple of milestones, maybe they’ve learnt a few of their favourite songs, and they get too content. And with that, they get out of the cycle of learning. You need to be consistently setting new targets for yourself to motivate yourself to carry on improving.

Do you have the right information to improve? One of the things people really struggle with is that they don’t know how to improve because they don’t have the right information. They often find information that either doesn’t help them at all or doesn’t help them in the direction that they need to get to their goal. To be able to improve, having a specific information for you to improve for your specific goals is essential to making massive progress in your playing. If you can’t find the right information, then get someone to help you.

Have you got the right guitar teacher or a mentor to help? Having the right guitar teacher for you will definitely help you to make massive strides in your playing. Just like a lot of professional musicians and guitarists who still have a coach to help them. Having one for you means you save yourself a bunch of time and frustrations when you get to any problems you have. They should also help navigate you to avoid as many potential problems as possible.

This is a very big reason why people don’t improve. Either they are beginner guitar players who believe that they don’t need a teacher, which is a complete fallacy. Or some intermediate or even advanced players who think they are too good for a teacher. Again, if you have that attitude, then you will struggle to learn. And another group where they are perhaps shy about the little progress they have made and they don’t want to show someone what they have struggled with. We have a lot of students come to use who have been playing for years struggling on the same things, so we completely understand how they feel.​The most important thing is that you are willing to learn and to improve your guitar playing. Seeking out someone who can put all the right information together for you and guide you along to what you want to achieve will help you make leaps of improvement in your guitar playing.

Do you have believe in yourself? We see a lot of students who when they first come to us lack believes in their potential and their ability to do what they want on the guitar. They don’t give themselves enough believe that they can really become the guitarist that they hope to be. We just want to clarify that guitar is a learnt skill, no babies come out of their mothers knowing how to play guitar. All of it is practise of different skills and abilities coming together along with a lot of effort and work. So if you are willing to put the work in and do exactly the right things. Then you will definitely get there.

Are you holding yourself back from improving? We have seen this with other people where they are not willing to put in the work it takes to become a better guitar player. What I would say is that if you love guitar, you are passionate about it. Then no amount of hard work is too much. If you want to play guitar for the rest of your life, then remember that everything you put in now is just building momentum and improving your guitar playing skills for the rest of your life.

If you only want to try it for a couple of weeks, and you are not that keen on it, then I wouldn’t bother because it isn’t always easy. And you have to keep persistent about it. But if you want to do it properly, and give it more time, then it’s going to be one of the best decisions you’ve ever made. It will be so rewarding, be so much fun and bring you so much happiness.

About Author: Darryl Powis is a guitar teacher, instructor and guitar school owner in London. Dedicated to help people, hobbyists and professionals to learn how to play the guitar through his London Guitar Lessons.